Golden Acre Home & Garden Centre's Plant Library

Other Names:  Ozark Sundrops, Oenothera macrocarpa

Description:

A vigorous trailing plant with lance shaped gray-green foliage with white midribs; sunny yellow, cup shaped flowers bloom over a long season; seed pods can be dried for floral arrangements; perfect for rock gardens or border fronts

Ornamental Features

Evening Sun Primrose has masses of beautiful lightly-scented lemon yellow cup-shaped flowers along the stems from late spring to late summer, which are most effective when planted in groupings. Its narrow leaves remain grayish green in colour with pointy white spines and tinges of silver throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Evening Sun Primrose is an herbaceous perennial with a ground-hugging habit of growth. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Self-Seeding

Evening Sun Primrose is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens

Planting & Growing

Evening Sun Primrose will grow to be only 3 inches tall at maturity extending to 6 inches tall with the flowers, with a spread of 18 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 15 inches apart. Its foliage tends to remain low and dense right to the ground. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers dry to average moisture levels with very well-drained soil, and will often die in standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. This plant should not require much in the way of fertilizing once established, although it may appreciate a shot of general-purpose fertilizer from time to time early in the growing season. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in sandy soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selection of a native North American species.